


Better in Love

by luvtpwk



Category: Glee
Genre: F/F, Falling In Love, Flirting, Fluff, Humor, Love, Romance, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-19
Updated: 2020-05-19
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:06:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24274789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luvtpwk/pseuds/luvtpwk
Summary: Broadway diva Rachel Berry and emerging writer Quinn Fabray find themselves obligated to share a taxi during a terrible storm in New York City.
Relationships: Rachel Berry/Quinn Fabray
Comments: 5
Kudos: 116





	Better in Love

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, this is the first fic I have written in years and it's my first faberry one, so constructive criticism is always appreciated! It's pretty short and sweet. I really hope you like it, be sure to leave kudos and comment if you do. Enjoy!

Rainy days in New York City had something particularly magical about them. Maybe it was the way the water droplets raced down the windshield of the taxicab and made all the lights blurry, or the way the windows fogged up from the heat trapped inside, or maybe it was the effect the rain had on people, but he loved days when it rained the most.

He mindlessly hummed along to some old tune on the radio that he knew he had heard before, but he wasn't exactly sure where. He lifted his eyes to look into the rearview mirror and glanced at the man in the back seat. He wasn't particularly appealing. The little dark hair he had was still wet from walking around in the storm and his coat was way too tight, and it emitted a scent of humidity and dust. 

He figured the man hadn't worn it in a long time, as this was the first cold day after a very dry summer. He probably hadn't expected for it to rain today, and he had pulled the coat out from the depths of his closet in a rush before he left for work that morning without trying it on first.

It truly was hideous.

He chuckled softly at the sight before looking back outside, noticing the stoplight had turned green. He drove a little before coming to a halt again, caused by the heavy traffic of Columbus Avenue on a rainy day. The traffic was probably the biggest inconvenience caused by storms in the city, but for a humble taxicab driver like himself, it only meant more clients. 

"That's me right there." Said the hoarse voice of the man that sat directly behind him. The man pointed to the nearest corner, where he rapidly spotted two women rushing towards the nearing cab. One of them, a short brunette dressed in a bright red coat and black boots, waved desperately at him, almost jumping up and down to get his attention. The other one, a blonde, looked a bit calmer, and she smiled brightly when she noticed the cab. Neither of them had an umbrella. They didn't seem to have noticed one another, standing on opposing sides of the street. 

He stationed the car near the sidewalk, where the man handed him a twenty-dollar bill and told him to keep the change before hurrying into a busy building and getting lost in the crowd. Almost instantly, the two women raced towards the cab and almost ran into each other. They started arguing hastily, neither one of them wanting to wait any longer in the rain. 

He couldn’t hear what they were saying with the windows rolled up and the music playing loud, but he managed to see their faces pretty well.

It was only a matter of seconds before the blonde smiled again as the darker haired woman opened the door for her. She scooted all the way to the other door and the brunette, who looked kind of familiar now that he was seeing her closely, sat on the other seat and closed the door promptly. 

He turned his head to observe the women. It was warmer inside the cab now that they were inside, and he could hear their jagged breathing as they waited for him to start driving. 

They were soaking wet. He scoffed at the thought of his clean seats getting drenched, but he couldn’t leave them out there in this terrible storm. He needed the money anyways.

They were both very pretty, in noticeably different ways. The blonde had this sort of innocent look to her, hair in a half-up style tied with a floral hair scarf, messy from the water and the wind, and a beige oversized sweater that matched perfectly. She shuddered from the cold, having no other choice than to sit there in her dripping clothes. She had deep hazel eyes that seemed to go on forever, and he wondered what secrets hid behind them.

The brunette, on the other hand, looked bolder, more vivid. Maybe it was her clothes or her makeup, but there was something about her that made you want to know what was on her mind. She had big brown eyes that were almost hidden by her bangs, and round, glossy lips that looked incredibly soft. They both appeared to be in their early twenties, although the blonde was significantly taller than the brunette. He watched them sitting there, merely strangers from what could be the most different of worlds.

"Where to?" He asked neither one of them in particular.

The distracted blonde lifted her face. "Huh?" She barely replied.

He exhaled loudly. "Where are you going?"

The brunette took charge with a sassy, almost condescending tone. "You can drop me off at seventh and tenth street. I don't know about her, though." She glanced at the girl two feet away. 

"Uhm, I'm just a few blocks away from there." She said. Her voice was surprisingly husky. He wondered if she had a cold or if that was just the way she sounded. Maybe she smoked cigarettes. He took another peek at her and this time he saw her bag filled with books and notepads. A writer, he thought. 

She definitely smoked cigarettes.

He nodded and drove off quietly, feeling the tension building between the two silent women behind him. He wondered what they were doing outside in such bad weather at this time of night. He listened to the blonde shuffle around her bag and pull out a large book, before settling again to read quietly. 

This girl's face was unlike anything he had seen before. He had had thousands of people inside his cab in his many years as a driver, but he didn't think he had ever seen someone so absolutely beautiful, but with such a sad look in her eyes. He could only peek at her through the rearview mirror every once in a while to stare at her face while she read. Her nose scrunched up sometimes, and if he were any more poetic, or poetic at all, he might have described her as alluring and absolutely captivating. The other girl seemed to feel the same way. She sat restlessly in her seat, turning her face now and then to just stare.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the brunette's voice behind him. "I'm Rachel, by the way. Rachel Berry." She directed her words to the girl beside her, who barely looked up from her novel. 

"I know." She responded in almost a whisper. 

Rachel Berry, he thought. So that was where he knew her from. She was a rising actor on Broadway, and he had probably seen her on the TV once or twice. It's not like he was super into theatre or musicals or anything, but he was a cab driver in New York City, for god's sake. He was bound to find out about her shows from the endless amount of tourists he drove around any given day. 

Rachel's face beamed at the words of a potential fan, and he rolled his eyes. The silence grew stronger, almost awkward. Their breathing was becoming louder by the second until the tension was unbearable.

"You're pretty." Rachel blurted out matter-of-factly before she could stop herself.

He almost snorted at her obvious words.

The blonde smiled shyly and finally pulled her eyes away from her book to face the expectant diva practically staring her down. "You're forward." She responded.

Rachel smiled down and bit her lower lip innocently. "I know," she said. She sat quietly for a few seconds before speaking up again. "So, um, you're not going to tell me your name?"

The blonde seemed to hesitate briefly before responding. "Oh, um, Quinn. Yeah." She immediately returned to her reading.

"Nice to meet you, Quinn." Rachel said softly. She was determined to establish a conversation with the enigmatic girl. "What are you reading?"

Quinn closed her book suddenly. She thought for a second before opening her mouth again. "Little Women. It's... it's my favorite book." She turned to a smiling Rachel.

"Why?"

"Why?" Quinn asked back, puzzled. She was noticeably intimidated by being questioned by no one other than Rachel Berry, star of the immensely successful Funny Girl Broadway revival. 

The brunette nodded. “Why is it your favorite book?”

"I mean, it's such a beautiful story. I've always related a lot to the characters, and it's really refreshing to see female characters who actually have a three-dimensional personality, you know? And I love the relationship between the sisters, I wish I had something like that while growing up…" Quinn trailed off, suddenly worried she had said too much. She looked away, staring through the window at the people in the car next to them.

Rachel, however, was bewitched. He couldn't blame her, there was something simply enthralling about the way the blonde spoke of a subject she was truly passionate about. "Quinn, that's just, captivating." She declared with soft eyes. 

Quinn turned to face her again. "It is?" She asked, amused. 

"Yeah," Rachel continued, "you're captivating, Quinn." She blushed at her own words. 

Quinn smiled again, but it was different this time. More genuine. He knew because of the way her eyes lit up. 

He felt the air around them get lighter as the two women in the backseat started chatting casually. He wondered how Rachel had done it so effortlessly, getting Quinn to stop reading and talk to her. She didn't appear to be very fond of small talk, she kept to herself, he could tell. However, the vibrant brunette had a glow to her, there wasn't any other word to describe it. He didn't think anyone could ever ignore her. 

"So, Quinn," he heard Rachel go on, "what is it you do?"

The blonde blushed ever so slightly. "Oh, I'm a writer. I have a deal right now for a couple of children's books."

Rachel looked enchanted. "That's amazing, Quinn."

The other girl giggled a little. "Why do you keep saying my name, Rachel?" She mocked. 

He grinned at the look of them getting more comfortable with each other. It was a good thing, he presumed, as the street was the most congested it had been in months and it would probably be a long ride. As long as they didn’t start making out right then and there, he hoped.

"Well, I suppose I just like the way it sounds. It's simple, classy, almost musical." She stated. "You do know I'm a singer, right?"

Quinn nodded unashamedly. "I, uh, I went to your show a couple of months ago."

This sent Rachel over the moon, plain and simple. "You did?" She practically shrieked.

The driver flashed her an unpleasant look.

"Sorry." She said. He grunted and went on with his business. "You went to my show? Did you like it?" She was still ecstatic.

The blonde laughed. She couldn't believe the situation she was in, casually conversing with the Rachel Berry, who was secretly her favorite actress and whom she had had an (again, secret) crush on ever since she had known about her existence. Not that she would ever admit it, anyways. "I did like it, a lot, actually." Rachel grinned at Quinn's words. "Your stage presence was unlike anything I had seen before," she admitted, "you're very talented."

"I am." Rachel said. To anyone else, this may have sounded arrogant, but he knew, and Quinn knew, that Rachel was different. Just like Quinn had said, unlike anything they had seen before. 

"Well, then I suppose you must know all about me if you're such a fan." Rachel teased. "What about you, Quinn? Why do you write books for kids? Is that your passion?

He looked up to see hazel eyes widen behind him, agitated at the questions. Rachel had some nerve, he thought, to ask something so personal to a woman she had only just met.

Quinn inhaled. "This may be oversharing, but I suppose books have always been important to me. Ever since I was little, I felt different, alienated. I was mean to other kids, but only because I was scared that they'd be mean to me if I didn't look tough. And at home, well, let's just say I didn't have much of a support system. So I read, and characters became my best friends." She looked nervous all of a sudden. "Sorry, I don't know why I'm telling you this, I only just met you. I'm not usually like…"

Rachel interrupted her rambling. "No, please, go on. I'd love to know more about you." She smiled sweetly.

Quinn's face brightened as her lips curled upwards. "I guess I found such comfort in the stories I read, that I wanted to be that for other kids, you know? No one should ever feel as alone as I did those days."

"I do know, Quinn. Contrary to popular belief, I wasn't always this fabulous." Rachel joked. Quinn smiled at her. "I had a hard time in school as well, I got bullied and slushied and I had no real friends. I-"

"Wait, slushied?" Quinn interrupted, wide-eyed. "As in people threw slushies at you?"

Rachel laughed, then sighed. "It's ridiculous, I know. They were so cold."

The blonde didn't laugh, although the driver did. He was amused at the idea of someone throwing a slushy at the powerhouse that was Rachel Berry. At least she was richer than all of her bullies now, he thought. Way to get back at them.

Anyways, Quinn was horrified. "That's terrible!" She said, outraged. She remained thoughtful for a second, drawing back into her seat and breaking eye contact with Rachel. He knew what she was thinking. She probably would've been one of Rachel's tormentors in high school.

Rachel nodded and stared at the girl for a second. He looked in the rearview mirror to catch her eying the writer's lips and smiled knowingly. 

She did have nice lips.

"Quinn?" Spoke the diva.

"Yeah, Rachel?" She replied, shy once again.

Rachel frowned at the change in tone. "So, you see, next week I'm performing at a small showcase, nothing too fancy, but it is by invitation only. I was thinking that maybe if you'd like to come, I would love to see you again there."

"You want me to go see you? Are you sure you can spare an invitation?" Said Quinn thoughtfully.

"Yes, I'm sure." Rachel then paused for a bit too long. "I don't know if you want to bring anyone with you; if you have a… boyfriend or a, um, someone."

Quinn grinned at the brunette's sudden nervousness. "I know what you're asking," she stated, suddenly feeling more confident, "and no, I don't have a someone. Or a boyfriend, for that matter, but I’m not exactly looking for one.”

Rachel beamed. “Perfect.”

Quinn snorted. She was so obvious.

Rachel batted her eyelashes.

Quinn stopped laughing and pressed her teeth lightly against her lower lip. Her head was full of thoughts that she couldn’t distinguish from one another. Rachel Berry. Flirting. Date. Was it even a date? Her lips. Her hair. Soft. Her body. Butterflies. Lips. Closer. Stop it, this is inappropriate. She forced herself out of her mind. She barely even knew the girl. Yet somehow she felt like she had known her forever. Like this was all part of a bigger plan and it wasn’t a mere coincidence that they had ended up in the same cab.

She looked away, flustered.

Two feet in front of her, the driver rolled his eyes at their useless flirting. He had seen it all in his thirty years as a taxi driver. Couples falling in and out of love, men and women achieving greatness and men and women ruining their lives. He had driven through fights, tears, meltdowns, and apologies. He had even seen births and deaths. But he had never, not once in his lifetime, felt such an immediate connection between two strangers. 

He knew this could be the real deal.

He just hoped it would develop into such a thing.

\---

It was a little over three years later when he encountered them again. It was a warm day, considering it was almost winter when he pulled over at the request of two beautiful women standing hand in hand. He recognized them immediately, not only because one doesn’t forget driving the now Tony Award winner Rachel Berry, but because of the blonde. The mysterious girl with a shy smile and captivating eyes that couldn’t stop looking at the brunette. She was something special.

He knew they wouldn’t recognize him when they stepped inside the cab, he was just an old man who had barely uttered two words to them the previous time. He wondered if he should let them know that this was the same cab where they had met years ago, but he decided to wait a bit, not wanting to sound like a stalker.

Rachel had opened the door for Quinn once again, but this time she sat in the middle seat, as close to the blonde as possible. They looked older, but not in a bad way. More mature, maybe, but they still had that refreshing glow of young budding love. Rachel had gotten rid of her bangs, and her face looked even prettier now that you could see more of it.

Quinn Fabray, best selling author, on the other hand, somehow looked lighter. Like she had been carrying a weight her whole life and someone had taken it and left it far behind. Her hair was still the same pretty blonde, only slightly shorter, and her eyes hadn’t lost their sparkle, on the contrary, they looked happier.

He couldn’t help but smile.

“Sir? Hi?” Said Rachel.

He turned around, startled. “Hello ladies,” he began, regaining his sense of self. “Where can I take you today?”

Quinn smiled politely. “Seventy-second and Park, please.”

“Very well.” He replied and drove off. They were quiet for the first minute or so of the ride, and he took every chance he had to look at them. They were pressed together, Rachel almost sitting on Quinn’s lap. To be young and in love, he thought. He remembered the feeling of not being able to spend a second apart from the one you love and the absolute comfort of touch.

He couldn’t stand the curiosity any longer, he needed to know what had been of the women. 

“Miss Berry, right? Or is it Mrs.?” 

Rachel beamed at being recognized. Some things never change. “Yes, it’s miss.” She hesitated before going on. “We are engaged though. Are you a fan?”

Thank God. “Oh, congratulations! I am very much a fan of yours. How long have you two been together?”

Quinn spoke up this time. “Three years and two months. I proposed on our anniversary.” She commented proudly. Her fiancée gave her hand a squeeze and looked up at her, doe-eyed. 

“You know, we actually met in a cab like this one.” Rachel mentioned. “It was raining so much that day, do you remember baby?” Quinn nodded while absently playing with the brown hair falling on Rachel’s shoulder. “It had taken me so long to find an empty taxi, and as soon as one appeared, so did Quinn. I remember arguing under the rain before she suggested that we share.”

“That’s fascinating.” He was screwed. There’s no way he could tell them he already knew this without coming off as a pervert.

Rachel continued her story. “We were so cold and wet, we probably ruined the driver’s seats.”

They sure did.

“We just sat there for a while, but I couldn’t take my eyes away from you.” She said, turning to Quinn. “And then as soon as we started talking, I was hooked. It was like a drug.”

Quinn smiled. She was radiant. “I was so nervous. I couldn’t believe that Rachel Berry was actually talking to me. We went on our first date a week later, although I have to admit, I wasn’t sure if it was even a date at first.” She laughed.

“What?” Rachel chuckled. “Of course it was! We kissed!”

“Oh, I know, but I mean before. I couldn’t figure you out.”

“Well you know me pretty well now, don’t you?”

Quinn smirked and glared at her girl’s lips. She wrapped her arm around her shoulder, pulling her closer. It was never close enough.

He couldn’t help but smile at them. “And it’s been perfect ever since?” He asked.

Rachel replied. “Well yes, we did go through a rough patch a while ago, but we found our way back to each other. I couldn’t bear not seeing that cute little face every day.” She teased.

Of course, they found each other again. 

Because that was what true love was like, in the end. It was a connection so strong, that you felt like you couldn’t breathe unless you were with that one person. He didn’t believe in soulmates or anything like that, but he knew that sometimes, things just turned out right. It was the tingles that rushed down your spine when you did as much as think of that person. It was a constant desire to touch and be touched. It was helping each other grow, and not being able to leave them because you know you’re not truly yourself if you aren’t with them. It was your mind filling with thoughts good and bad, but always going back to that same person.

It was more than just words and kisses.

It was the entire world.

\--- 

First best is falling in love. Second best is being in love. Least best is falling out of love. But any of it is better than never having been in love.  
—Maya Angelou


End file.
